The benefits of R&D and breadth in innovation strategies: a comparison of Finnish service and manufacturing firms

By Aija Leiponen. 2012

145 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This empirical study compares the determinants of innovation in manufacturing and services through descriptive and regression analyses of sales from innovative products and services. A particular focus is on the effects of R&D investments and breadth in knowledge sourcing and innovation objectives. The results suggest that, contrary to earlier research, R&D investments play a statistically and economically significant role in service innovation. We suggest that this results from the growing engagement of service firms in regular R&D activity. Both service and manufacturing firms also benefit from breadth in external knowledge sourcing strategies. In contrast, breadth in terms of pursuing parallel innovation objectives appears to have detrimental effects on innovation in service industries. We interpret the latter results through reference to service firms' R&D management capabilities: Managing multiple innovation projects is challenging, and some service firms may not have accumulated the requisite managerial processes and capabilities to benefit from these strategies. The available data provide support for this conjecture. The detrimental effects of breadth in innovation objectives are significantly mitigated by regular R&D activities. Copyright 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c5faf41009c118797afc8da1b9b7e40168501f51

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In Economics and Econometrics

1. J. Love
2. S. Roper
3. P. Ganotakis
4. Mark Freel
5. M. A. Mansury
6. Nola Hewitt-Dundas
7. Nigel Driffield
8. J. Doran

In Strategy and Management

1. S. Roper
2. J. Love
3. P. Ganotakis
4. Nigel Driffield
5. Mark Freel
6. J. Doran
7. Geraldine Ryan
8. Keld Laursen

Citations in the corpus

• SME innovation, exporting and growth: A review of existing evidence (2015, background): “For example, there is some evidence that the benefits of openness may be weaker in services where some firms may not have developed the managerial routines to take advantage of external knowledge sources (Leiponen, 2012).”